• London 2012 – the logo drama

    Posted on June 5th, 2007 by and currently 5 commenting.

    There is a stink brewing about the 2012 Olympics London logo. Via one of my favorite identity blogs, the boys and girls at Wolff Olins charged almost $800,000 to design the new mark (note to self, raise prices). I’m no designer and am surround by some of the best in the industry, so I’ll keep my mouth shut on this one. However, a few people ” to the tune of 23,727 (and rising all the time) ” aren’t keeping their mouths shut and have actually started a petition to either redesign the identity or go back to the bid logo.
    london2012_logo.gif
    There’s also an article that’s been written collecting some of the more interesting remarks in the blogosphere.

    Look, an identity mark is a personal thing. Some people don’t like a certain color. Others see something that reminds them of that bully that beat them up in third grade. But with the right insight, there’s always a thread that’s woven through a great mark that the audience can cling to.

    I’m not saying the boys and girls at Wolff Olins didn’t do their homework. They are actually really good at what they do (most of the time, at least), but the instant and loud reaction by the English blogosphere is intriguing and should probably at least be recognized.

    This one will be great to watch.

    Update: Seems like the animated footage on the London 2012 website triggers seizures. This just keeps getting better and better. (Or worse and worse, depending on how you look at it.)

  • http://www.spinningsilkmultimedia.com Patrick

    I saw this on a friends blog posting and immediately replied. My initial reaction to the logo was, “What is that?” Then I saw the Olympic logo (which is an entirely different and well known logo) but it still took me another couple of second to see the 2012 number. The logo is more indicative of graffiti or rap music. It overall logo might be fine for a “hip/edgy” magazine or t-shirt line but not for the Olympics. A logo should clearly communicate it’s purpose and meaning at first glance without second guessing.

    I’ve designed logo’s myself and I know the give and take and time required to get it right and thus it’s ironic but needed to charge price higher than a lot of other creative works but this amount to me looks like robbery. I don’t care if it is the Olympics it’s still a waste of money. For a logo that’s supposed to communicate to an International audience it seems like it would have been the perfect time to the get the web and “blogosphere” involved.

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  • http://www.pinkertonsouth.com david benardo

    Many Olympic marks look like they we’re designed on some other planet. Always fresh and I love that. I think this one was was designed with Colorforms on the fridge of the in-house day care center or maybe by “Emory and Oglethorpe” from ATHF. Supercool.

  • http://darmano.typepad.com/ David Armano

    I gave an outright opinion on this over at my place and got a variety of comments—some defending, and others saying WTF?

    Honestly I don’t get it. I admire risk taking, but when the end product divides vs. unites for something as inclusive as The Olympics—well then the most scientific explanation I can offer is that “something ‘aint right”.

  • http://www.TaylorImages.com Bryan Taylor

    I understand research. And back and forth. I understand client revisions. And remakes. I understand useage and intellectual value. But, I really don’t understand $800,000 for this. My 8-year-old son has “designed” more insightful representations of objects and concepts with crayons and notebook paper.

    The Olympics represent:

    Unity : This is disjoint.

    Grace : This is ragged and stressed

    Strength : Well, OK. It’s basically square. And bold. I’ll give it half-credit for that. But it looks as though it is crumbling. I’ll take that half-credit back now.

    Excellence : ’nuff said.